TOPEKA — The Kansas Legislature passed a K-12 education package Friday that fully funds public schools but includes expansion of a private school tax credit and allows private school students to participate in public school sports and activities.
Lawmakers abandoned plans to pass a revived voucher program before adjourning.
House lawmakers approved Senate Bill 113, which provides funding for the next three years, by an 83-37 vote, despite criticism from House Democrats who felt the process hasn’t been transparent — especially with a new provision that allows the state first right of refusal over closed school buildings. The bill passed 23-16 in the Senate after lengthy debate.
Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat, challenged the conference committee bundle of policies because the provision dealing with closed school buildings wasn’t included in any previous bills, a violation of House rules. Republicans overruled his challenge.
“This is no way to craft policy,” Ousley said. “This is no way to do half of our budget.”
Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, also questioned the need for the building-buying provision. Holland said he didn’t think the state should get into real estate, especially with no publicly available plan for the buildings bought by the state. Holland said he was concerned the goal was to move private education organizations into these buildings, edging out public schools.
“This to me reeks of massive conflicts of interest,” Holland said. “I’m only imagining because it doesn’t tell us what’s going to happen to those properties once the state picks them up.”
Private school benefits
SB113 expands a private school tax credit originally billed as a way to serve low-income Kansas students. The tax credit currently allows organizations and taxpayers to write off 70% of scholarships they provide to private schools, with a maximum allowable credit of $500,000 per year.
The bill would increase student eligibility for the program to 250% of the federal poverty level, raise the tax credit write-off to 75% and also allow unaccredited private schools to be eligible for the program, as long as the school is “working toward accreditation.” The increased tax credit rate of 75% is the highest bracket for charitable donations in the Kansas tax code.
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat, said she didn’t support the provision because these private schools wouldn’t have any accountability measures in place, such as reported test scores.
“We won’t expand Medicaid, but we’re going to give these dollars without any accountability,” Sykes said.
Another portion of the bill allows private school and homeschool students to participate in public school activities, such as sports teams and debate programs. The students could join any school district activities overseen by the Kansas State High School Activities Association.
“They are taxpayers,” said Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican. “They are all a part of our community. And we want to have an opportunity for them to be included.”
Several senators questioned why nonpublic students should be allowed to join these activities, especially since they wouldn’t be held to the same standards for extracurricular eligibility as public school students.
